For purpose of explanation assume that electronic equipment (for radar, communications, or some other purpose) is located in an advanced field position and messages between the same and a remote area(s) are to be carried via fiber optic cables. with such equipment in position, a service person will transport the (multiple) cables to the equipment for connection thereto. Using the common, commercially available, connector assemblies (to be described hereinafter) it will be evident to those in the art that any given fiber optic cable might be connected to any equipment output port connector (i.e. a bulkhead connector). This, of course, can cause very serious problems when the fiber optic cables must be interconnected with equipment carrying traffic of various types and classifications (e.g., classified and unclassified messages).
An ovious solution to the problem is, of course, to color code the cable connector assemblies and the equipment or bulkhead connector assemblies which are to be interconnected. Unfortunately, color coding is useless when the fiber cable-to-equipment connections must be made in the dark - as may be necessary during military operations.